Creation in FLC
Creation in FLC The great thing about tabletop games is the amount of creative freedom they allow. Really, anything you can conceive of could be used in FLC, as long as it was incorporated in a sensible and fun way. Many aspects of the game are malleable, from the locations of the world to the weapons trainers use, to the Pokemon themselves. Creating Locations: As you may already know, Pokemon games take place in various “Regions”, in which the player travels about, doing their thing. But FLC takes place within a whole world. And all of these Regions exist within it. Every place in the games exists as a Region in FLC. Each Region exists as part of a continent, and each continent is accessible. Players are free to play in any Region from the games. If you want, create your own Regions with unique qualities. If you choose to use locations from the games, maps of every place can be found in reference sources. If not, create your own maps for your new Region. The most interesting part about the locations of FLC is how drastically different from each other they can be. Through the use of Grass Pokemon, tall lush jungles can cover a valley. Next to it, a community uses Electric Pokemon to create a city with a monorail system. Next to it, a quarry community uses Rock Pokemon to help them form stone huts for shelter. Next to that, a fishing village in the middle of a river uses Water Pokemon to help them live their lives. Through humans’ symbiotic relationships with Pokemon, different lifestyles can be seen in the world of FLC. GMs are encouraged to let players experience these varying cultures in the telling of their stories. This is not to say that all locations in FLC are this drastically different, just that they could be. Some locations in the world are tremendous efforts of Pokemon and human intuition and ingenuity. For example, in the Hoenn Region, Sootopolis City is built in the caldera of a volcano. There are bustling skyscrapers in the center, while the smaller buildings of the city are built up the slope of the inside of the volcano. (Don’t worry, the volcano is dormant.) The city goes up the inside of the mountain and travels all around the rim of the crater. The vertical aspect of the city leads to buildings stacked on top of each other and streets placed above roofs, level over level. These kinds of fantastical cities are possible in the FLC world, though also note that mundane towns will also exist. The rule in all of the Pokemon games is that there are two general sizes of communities: cities and towns. Cities range from modest to massive, and towns range from a collection of huts to a large suburban environment. Every city and town in the games is named “______ City” or “______ Town”, with the blank filled in with a name that is symbolic of some aspect of the community. Sootopolis City is a “metropolis of soot” because it is in a volcano. Goldenrod City is a prominent fishing city. Often times regions have thematic names in their cities and towns, so GMs should note this if they wish to create locations in the same vein as those in the games. Alternatively, GMs are free to interpret the content of the world that already exists in whatever way they choose. Creating Pokemon Moves: As previously mentioned concerning Light Pokemon, new moves and creatures must be created to fit into this new type. Creating Pokemon moves is a fairly simple process. Every attack move needs to have a Pokemon type, a designation of physical or special, an attack power (the die that gets used for it in damage rolls, if you forgot) and an FP cost. Status moves only need a Pokemon type and an FP cost. For example, here’s the simplest move you could make up: Normal, Physical, d2, 1 FP As you can see, Slap is a physical Normal type move, with an attack power of a d2 and an FP cost of 1. Let’s expand on the idea a little more. Slap: Normal, Physical, d2, 10% chance to Confuse target, 1 FP With Surprise Slap, we’ve added an additional aspect, the 10% Confusion chance. Note that the FP cost of this attack is still 1. The FP cost should be fair according to the attack power and additional aspects of the move. For instance: Mega Slap: Normal, Physical, d8, 30% chance to Confuse, 4 FP Surprise Mega Slap has a higher attack power with a d8 plus a higher chance to cause Confusion, thus it has a higher FP cost. Determining fairness in created moves is important to match the feel and balance of moves that already exist in the games. Referencing moves that already exist will help inform players who wish to create their own moves what is balanced. Keep in mind that FLC is also a place where this can be experimented with, although good balance should be a priority. For example: Cannon: Ghost/Fire, Special, d20, 50% chance to Burn, 50% chance to Confuse This move better have either an FP cost of 30, or an additional aspect like, “User cannot perform actions on their next two turns.” The fact that it is already a double-type move means that the damage it could do with its d20 power is already potentially staggering. Not to mention the reasonably good odds that the target will get one or both status effects from it. Therefore, it should have a huge liability or restriction. Another solution could be to make a move like this accessible via a Pokemon’s Signature Feat, in that they can only use it once in a set length of time. As you have probably inferred, creating moves can also expand on the previously set FP system of FLC. For example, a move like this: Armor: Rock, Status, Raises User’s AT, DF, and SD up two stages each, Lowers SP by two stages, 10 FP Unlike PP in the games, which cannot go lower than 5, FP can continue to rise, opening up the possibility of moves that cost more than 7 FP. Keep in mind however, that moves that cost 7 FP are among the most powerful, so creating moves of 8 FP or more could lead into moves with unbalanced power. Here’s another example of stretching the rules of moves: Blade: Ghost, Physical, d8, Costs 0 FP but user loses 10% of its maximum HP This move is free, FP-wise, but comes with another drawback, the depletion of the users Hit Points. This makes Phantom Blade useful in a situation where a Pokemon needs to deliver a lot of damage when they have little FP, but cannot be used recklessly or the Pokemon will be put in danger. As for moves of the Light type, they must all be created, or be altered from other moves (as many moves in the Pokemon games already are). Physical Light moves often have to do with pious strength symbolic in shining energy around the attack. Special based Light moves have intense rays of bright energy that pierce foes. Occasionally, Light moves have the property to give opponents the status Incandescent. This is unique to them (thus far). Here are a few Light moves to inspire creation: Fist: Light, Physical, d5, 10% chance to give Incandescence, 3 FP Ray: Light, Special, d8, 30% chance to give Incandescence, 5 FP Players are free to use their imaginations when creating new moves, they should just always check with the GM to be sure that moves are balanced enough for play. As for the use of Light moves and Pokemon, this should also be talked about with the GM. In the event of a player wishing to use Light types, alterations to Pokemon are possible to change their types or movesets to include the Light type. Or new Pokemon can be created altogether, which will be covered shortly. Creating Abilities: Similar to creating moves, Abilities can be created or altered in FLC. Harking back to Shiera’s Snow Cloak, it raises her evasion by one stage when it begins to snow. What about a faster Ground type Pokemon? What if they had an altered version of Snow Cloak that gave them evasion up a stage when fighting on a Ground terrain? Abilities are easily alterable if a GM wants to change certain aspects. Additionally, entirely new abilities could be conceived if the GM chooses to allow it. For example, here are a few created Abilities: Pokemon can use one-use Items twice (for full effect) before they are spent up. Pokemon gets +1 Movement square and +1 to reflexive skill checks. Remember, Abilities are generally a slight advantage. An Ability like, “Pokemon gets +10 damage to every attack” is not balanced. Something cleverer than that might be: Pokemon gets +10 damage to any attack that is “not very effective”. (meaning that the defending Pokemon has a Resistance against the attack’s type) This damage is added before Weaknesses and Resistances are calculated. Most Abilities provide an edge without being extreme. However, as it can be seen in the reference sources, some Abilities are extraordinary. It is up to the GM to decide what is feasible and what is not. Creating Feats: In the FLC Rules Master text, there is a list of Feats for each Pokemon type. Since Feats do not actually exist in the Pokemon games, all Feats are made up. The idea of Feats is inspired by other tabletop games in which players can use up super moves to make a huge impact on the game situation. So that’s what Feats do in FLC, too. To create Feats, you must be familiar with the rules of the game. After all, you must know what you can or cannot do in order to find a way to bend those rules. So go play some FLC before you start thinking up new Feats. Right, now that you’ve got a few campaigns under your belt, let’s make some Feats. Making up Feats requires some abstract thought. The question you should ask yourself is “What can this kind of Pokemon do?” What can a Psychic Pokemon do? Lift things with its brain, read minds. A lot of things about brainpower. So, maybe a feat has to do with its super brainpower. Okay, so using its super brainpower, it does better when doing brainpower things. Things like Pokemon Skill checks. Okay, so the Psychic Feat that will enhance its power over Psychic actions with Skill checks: +3 to rolls for Psychic Skill checks. (Passive) The Psychic Feat Concentration gives the user a Passive +3 bonus to all Psychic Skill checks. Now let’s look at the creation of a Level 2 Feat. For Concentration, what is the next step that the Psychic Pokemon can take? Maybe they expand their Concentration outside of their own mind, similar to the way they do with their thoughts and attacks and telekinesis and such. So perhaps, the Psychic Pokemon’s knowledge and realization of the situation spreads into its trainer and his or her other Pokemon, through the connection of their minds. This connection is not quite as strong as the Pokemon’s natural ability with its mind powers, but it spreads to other areas of the different Pokemons’ and trainer’s biologies. So the Level 2 Feat from Concentration might be: +2 to rolls for Skill checks on trainer and trainer’s Pokemon. (Passive) This Level 2 Feat is extremely useful, but in battle, it serves very little purpose. If this Feat is one that a Psychic type wants to get, they have to use up two of their 9 Feats to have it. It should be appropriately powerful for being a second Level, but less extreme than a third Level. Remember, the significance of Feats should be: *Regular Feats (Strong, useable reasonably often) *Level 2 Feats (Stronger, more specialized, expansion of Level 1) *Level 3 Feats (Stronger still, specified aspect of Pokemon type, expansion of Level 2) *Signature Feats (Strongest, most restriction, specific to both Pokemon type and characteristics of the Pokemon it is on.) In the creation of Feats, you are aiming to create something that will give the user an advantage, but will not win the fight for them. Besides, if you made a Feat that simply crushed the opponent, what would you do if the GM decided to give it to one of your enemies? Though very similar to Signature Feats, creating regular Feats requires to players to think about the qualities of the specific type, both symbolically and gameplay-wise, and how they could inspire great moments of power. Think about this: Create a Feat using the following model. It must be a Fire type Feat. It must have something to do with dealing extra damage. Remember, Feats need to have a title, a description, and a restriction. Be sure that it is balanced enough to be used in play and be sure that your title doesn’t have the same name as another move or Feat that already exists. Think about what a Fire type Pokemon can do that might make its attacks hurt more. When you have your new Feat, show your GM for approval. Or, if you are the GM, great job. Creating Items/Equipment: Creating Items and Equipment allows the GM to really expand on the possibilities in the world of Pokemon. The right Item on a Pokemon will give them the strength to overcome their foes, and the right Equipment can drastically affect a Pokemon’s damage or use in battle. In the GM’s creation of Items, they are free to make whatever they choose, but are encouraged to reference the video games. For instance, the Item Potion has a connotation of what it does because of the games. If a GM says that a store has Potions for sale, the players have a good sense of they mean. Additionally, Items can restore FP instead of the PP restoring Items of the games. GMs can tweak Items to create new ones, or they can eschew the established content and make their own. In the creation of Items, each one should have a title (or at least a description of what it is), a description of its effects, if known, and a restriction of its use. The most common Item restriction is a one-use, meaning that the Item is consumable and after its use it is discarded. 95% of Items are this way, but occasionally, a specific Item will have more than one use and this should be noted. In the creation of Equipment, the GM should plan something thematic about the piece of Equipment. For example, is this Item defensive or offensive? Defensive. Does it boost stats or something else? Something else. Does it restore HP or something else? Something else. Does it restore FP? Yes. Okay, you’ve got a piece of Equipment that helps your Pokemon in battle by restoring its FP. How does it do that? Is it Passive, Active, or Triggered? If it’s Passive, how much FP can be returned each turn while remaining balanced for the quality of the Equipment? If it’s Active, how many times can it be used, and for how much FP? If it’s triggered, what is its trigger, and how much FP will it do when it goes off? Let’s look at 3 different examples of what this piece of Equipment might look like, assuming its of a modest power: Stone of Stamina: Restores 2 FP per round. Jilting Armband: Restores 7 FP upon activation. Can be used once per round, twice per battle. Adrenaline Induction Device: When Pokemon drops to 0 FP, the device activates, giving them 15 FP immediately. Only works once per battle. Remember, Equipment can be science-based or magic-based, because both of these things occur in the world of Pokemon and in FLC. The creation of Equipment and Items opens up leagues of new ideas for GMs to experiment with, but the players can also tweak Items and Equipment that they already have, with sufficient use of the Craft Skills. Creating Pokemon: With the creative freedom in FLC, it is totally conceivable to create your own new Pokemon. Now, this also comes with a certain responsibility. Creating a Pokemon that is above the rules isn’t fun, it’s stupid. The world works because of the realistic approach to its various fantastical elements. Creating a Pokemon should have a basis in what has come before it. The easiest way to make a new Pokemon is to base it off of one that already exists. For example, a feline Light Pokemon might have similar stats to the Dark Pokemon Purrloin. Look at the stats for Purrloin. Purrloin’s stats are: HP: 43 AT: 50 (+1 perk) DF: 37 SA: 50 (+1 perk) SD: 37 SP: 66 (+2 perk) Purrloins are known for being fast, quick-striking thieves. This is shown in their +2 perk in their SP stat and their attack perks. So let’s make a Light type cat Pokemon that acts in opposition to Purrloin. Light types sometimes consider themselves to be defenders, so this Pokemon might have opposing stats to Purrloin’s. However, it’s still a cat, so it’s probably still fast. Let’s just rearrange the numbers from Purrloin’s stats into: HP: 43 AT: 37 DF: 50 (+1 perk) SA: 37 SD: 50 (+1 perk) SP: 66 (+2 perk) There. We have the stats for our Light Pokemon that is in opposition to Purrloin. Let’s give it a Light based name, Purrity. (Get it? Because, purity.) The alternative to adapting a Pokemon’s stats is to create your own. This does require significantly more understanding and work. Let’s say you want to create a new Water type Pokemon. Look at Water type Pokemon that already exist. What are some common features that they have? Look at their stats. What stats do you think your Pokemon should have? How powerful should they be? Looking at the base stats in reference sources, you can tell generally how strong any Pokemon is. The lowest total base stats in the games are shared by Caterpie, Weedle, and Wurmple, with 195. So you can tell that 200 is a low end for the spectrum. If you are planning on making your new Pokemon have base stats of more than 550, you are creating your Pokemon irresponsibly, and should reconsider. So decide your new Pokemon’s base stats. Remember that each Pokemon gets stat perks. Thus, your highest stat will get the +2 perk, and so forth. So divide your total base stat number amongst your 6 stats. Once you have your Pokemon’s base stats, you can find its FLC starting stats. Just divide them in half. Congratulations, you have a new Level 1 Pokemon of your own creation. Now give the Pokemon its stat perks and use d4s to Level them up to the appropriate Level. The next problem with Pokemon creation is that every Pokemon needs a moveset. There is also a certain responsibility here. In creating your new Pokemon’s moveset, you should be clever. You should not give them Earthquake, Blizzard, Solarbeam, Rock Wrecker, Hurricane, Fusion Bolt, Psystrike, and Shadow Force. This is being irresponsible. With your GM, look at the moveset of a Pokemon similar to the one you have just created. Decide what you think works for your Pokemon and what does not. Stronger moves are reserved for later on in the list, and very often, Pokemon get moves of their own type with occasional use of powerful moves of other types. A moveset should have between 10 and 20 moves in it, spread across the Levels. Players can create moves for your moveset, but are encouraged to utilize the vast catalogue of pre-existing moves. Furthermore, the GM can decide to change existing Pokemon’s movesets if they feel it is appropriate to their character. They may decide to create new moves or to alter existing ones. This may be done without the prior knowledge of the player. For example: Levels up to be Level 25. At 25, Rattata gains access to the move Assurance: Assurance: Dark, Physical, d5 (d10 if the target has been dealt damage this round), 6 FP However, Franz’ trainer Penny often has Franz protecting innocents and standing up to much bigger foes, despite Rattata’s natural disposition to flee. Because of Penny’s influence on him, the GM announces that instead of Assurance, Franz learns this move: Persistence: Light, Physical, d6, 4 FP (1 FP if the target has taken damage this round) This attack gives Franz a wider variety of attacks for his moveset, while also meshing with his character. Category:Creation